Last Blast before Moo

A couple weekends back I did an Olympic distance race, Emmett's "Most Excellent" Triathlon. This race is hosted by the local tri-club I belong to here in Boise (The Boise Aeros). My buddy, Ken Runyan (who was actually a very fast runner back in his day so it's not just a clever last name), directs this race and did a fantastic job as did all the Aeros out there supporting. I've heard many good things about this race and the timing seemed fitting as the intensity of my workouts seem to be in full force these days. I had a very soft half-iron in Bend so I really wanted to come into this with some pain on the brain.

This is another point-2-point race, which is the only kind of racing I've done all year. It's going to be strange in Madison biking to the same place I started. Anyways, we start out at Black Canyon Reservoir, which is about 30-mins from my house. Nice close race this time. It's a beautiful little area back there, but surprisingly the water is rather dark (or black). It's not dirty, just has that dark color from the rocks/minerals in the water. So the sense of knowing where the field is during the swim should be a bit more acute. This race also has more familiar faces so it was nice to have that this year. Not being at Tri-Shark, where I know just about everyone, this race helped sooth my tri-stranger-pain.

I have to say, it's been awhile since I've prepped up for an Olympic distance race. My habits are in tune to go long-long-long so I think I made my race week prep a bit overcomplicated. I didn't come into this race rested (actually sleep deprived), but I put in my normal prep time with a full day's rest two days out (typical stuff). I just didn't have the strategy figured out and made some dumb mistakes during the race. Sort of goes with not racing as much this year too, I suppose.

The swim kicks off to a good start. Two strokes into my race I take a full-force heel to the face, totally knocking my goggles off. Damn, that was quick and what a nice star-gazing session it was for a few seconds! Whoof! I got my lid reattached and goggles back on, did a quick blood/tooth check, all is good so I got clear and into a groove. The goggles continued to fill up so I had to finally stop, empty them out and adjust the swim cap. When it was all said and done the swim went pretty well despite having to stop those couple times.

My transitions have sucked this year. I can't say it enough, SUCKED to the nth! I had a heck of time getting out of my wetsuit (need some spray) and getting that point-2-point gear bag packed was awfully slow. Ken was standing there taking pictures, asking if I was planning to read a book. Man, I'm supposed to be good at this stuff and that was embarrassing. On the way out Kate yells out that my nutrition had fallen out of my back pocket. Looking back, I can't see where it dropped so now I'm stuck with the just the fluids. I have a gel waiting for me in T2 so we'll see if that's enough, but SCREW ME DUDE....too much freakin drama!

The bike course is surprisingly flat with some gentle rollers and one short-steep hill. If you know the course and can hammer then breaking an hour is certainly in the cards if you can back it up w/ a run. I hadn't ridden the course so I kept a steady groove since I really wanted to run a hard 10K and finish strong. I was redlining for the first couple of miles and eventually got my heart down so a bit more warm-up on the bike would have helped. I ended up swapping places w/ a couple guys during the ride and a couple caught me near the end. I wasn't hammering too hard so that was fine, coming in around 1:02 for the 25-mile ride.

Quick Summary

The second transition went a little better, but still some big room for improvements. I guess it's time to start practicing transitions again. I thought I had those down about 5-years ago. Blame it on age, laziness, your mom, I don't know. When I got into the run I felt pretty good, but not awesome. I figured it would take a mile then I could put my head down and run. Well, it never happened. I never could get enough air in my lungs and let enough C02 out. It guess it was just one of those days...again! I was also found myself in no-man's land during the run. The PROs and some elites were ahead of me and everyone else was behind so I was pretty much out there alone with the people from the Sprint race and no one to push me. Not trying to make up excuses, but it didn't help during my time of badness. On the second lap of the course I was cooked. I probably stopped three or four times to get my lungs back and it ended up being the worst 10K of my life (PW!). The finish came and I ended up 18th out of the 216 and 3rd in my age group. So I actually won $10 for that effort, but could have really given 1st place a run if my run would have cooperated. I was around six minutes slower than my typical 10K if that says anything. DANG IT (said w/ Star Wars Robot Chicken voice)!

So I've got some things to think about and do until Moo. I had my last big week of training (hell of a ride last Saturday) and now into a good taper. I've had a rough go with sleep these last few weeks, but that's coming around again. I'm sure that had a lot to do with my sub-par race performance, but I'll own it and happily take a good HTFU slap to the head.

So with some positive mantras....

Harden the fck up, Drew.
Harden the fck up, Drew.
Harden the fck up, Drew.
Harden the fck up, Drew.....SSSSSSSSLAP!

OK, enough for now. Time for bed.

Taking July by the Horns

It seems as if July disappeared as fast as June. I'm still sort of shaking my head about the whole thing. Kate and I enjoyed our 4th of July in Boise though we both had some subtle setbacks on missing our families. Everyone was doing something and we really didn't have much for plans since Kater had an epic week of school starting that Monday. We got to see some great fireworks from our backyard and seeing it doesn't get dark-dark in early July until about 11pm everyone tends to start late and end late w/ the firecrackers. Such as life, it's once a year. I had a big ride planned that next day so I was hoping for some good sleep, but once 12:30am hit I don't think a blackcat Atom bomb could have woken me.

My brother was arriving the week after the 4th for some good family time and training. I had a 95-mile route planned out so I decided to ride it before we tackled it together. It started w/ some short killer hills after 10-miles then off to some longer climbs of around 2+ miles after 30-miles, then off to climb the Bogus Basin Summit starting at mile 40. You've probably heard me talk about Bogus in the past, but it's a great 16-mile climb and since it's very close by it's very convenient to get big training in without having to go forever to get there. I ended up hitting the route well and even tooks splits on the bogus climb. Knocking 22-mins off my previous attempt made for a very smiley descent back down the mountain. I think the legs are starting to enjoy the tilting-up roads of Idaho.


Having my brother arrive was exciting and I couldn't wait to show him around in the car, but mostly on the bike. Besides the mentioned route I also planned to take him up to the Mores Creek Summit, which crests about 13-miles past Idaho City and is around a 108-mile route. This route has three summit climbs since it's a down and back. Once again, it starts all innocent for about 11-miles then on to a 4+ mile climb up over Highland Valley Summit or Hilltop as the locals call it. From mile-23 you slowly gain elevation for 30-miles w/ the last 10 getting pretty steep. With about three miles left the road begins the switchbacks. The pic to the right shows the first switchback. It's an absolutely beautiful ride. I knew Flipper had his own demons to conquer going up so I went ahead and tackled my own. Reaching the top is always a kickass experience.

When I got to the top I waited for Flipper to arrive. It wasn't long before I could hear his grunts up the switchbacks. I got a good laugh out of it, but I knew he put in a hard effort to get to the top of that beast. We snapped some shots then turned around and enjoyed a very fast 13-miles back to Idaho City. Other than the Highland Summit being an absolute beeotch after 90-miles in the saddle we felt like life was once again fantastic. The beer that night tasted quite good.

It was great having my brother here and I can't wait until he comes back. He even managed to design up and build a huge shelving unit in my garage. He was the mastermind and I played the grunt dude. We had a blast and the house now has a ton more storage space. Something it was running a bit short on.

The day after Flipper left I had to fly out to Columbia, MO for work. I'm a geek who supports a lot of other geeks at State Farm so we had to present a bunch of the new technology coming their way. It was great to see everyone I work with again face-2-face. Being a teleworker you lose some of the that personal 1-on-1 contact. The conversations and more importantly, jokes!, that come up when we're all together is priceless. You just can't get that on the phone and email. Anyways, the presentations all went pretty well and I managed to get one good run in on Columbia's Katy Trail. Columbia is a very green, woodsy city so the run on the trail and along the river was quite nice. It also reminded me how dry Boise is and how humid the midwest is. Sheesh, my workout clothes never dried the entire time I was there. It was a nice reminder though since there's always a good chance that Ironman Moo is going to be nasty.

Other than that, training has gone exceptionally well in July despite not having my tri-bike for nearly the entire month (I've got the new frame now). These last six weeks will be nailing the longer runs and hitting my FTP efforts on the bike. I have an Olympic distance race on August 9th so that'll be my last FTP effort. Then it's one last big weekend and off to the psychotic taper. Whooya!

Take'r easy,
Drew.

Jeeeese Focker, where did June go?

Seems as if June came and went with a blink of an eye, a turn in the pool, some crazy-ass ride on the trainer, and the list goes on and on. Where the flippin heck did June go? I don't know. I do know it was eventful so I guess that explains it, time flies when you're having fun. As I mentioned in my May blog, the Boise 70.3 half-Ironman kicked off the beginning of the month with some positive feedback and also some "what not to-dooz". Recovering from that race could have been a little quicker, but I came back in full force w/o any injuries to speak of so knock on wood there. The month built up nicely and ended with a Half Ironman in Bend, Oregon. I'll get into that race in a bit.

June has been the month of family and friends and it felt damn good. My parents made it here in early June, driving their little yellow corvette all the way out here from Wisconsin. It was so nice having them in Boise and they can relate to all the great things we've been talking about when it comes to living in Idaho.

My buddy Brian made it out here so we could drive up to Coeur d'Alene and meet up with CD and Kdog for Ironman CDA and our annual "guys trip". Man, I didn't think a Guys trip was going to happen this year, but we made it work. Kdog was there to kick some butt and he left Idaho a butt-kicker. He did fantastic as did the rest of the Bloomington gang. Ya'll certainly didn't' suck! :) Rossi, CD, and I also got some good training in. We managed to get one lap on the Ironman swim course (1.2 miles) and roughly three laps of the bike course plus a little running. The new bike course at CDA is a huge improvement over the older course. I had no idea how beautiful the riding up by Hayden Lake was going to be so that was a pleasant surprise. There's also a few more challenging hills on that course so it helped us all get our legs better prepared for Wisconsin (Ross and I) and Kona (CD). Yes, there are hills in Kona! It was also simply great to be riding with the guys again. It didn't take much to realize how much I missed that.

By the time Rossi and I drove back to Boise (7-1/2hr drive), him flying back, and with everyone now gone I think I sunk into a small depression. I think it's typical when there's so much build up to see everyone then you have such a great time. Once they're gone you're sort of empty. So the entire week after CDA and leading up to the half Ironman in Bend I felt sapped of energy, tired, bored, and pretty unmotivated to race. I really considered bagging the race since all I wanted was to just get out the door and train w/o the headaches of racing. I also wasn't too excited about being in the car again, but I really wanted to go experience Bend. Besides, the race and cabin were paid for so we're going! I've been told by plenty of locals how beautiful Bend is. It's a dry climate like Boise, but there's a few monster mountains and miles and miles of huge pines. Another thing putting a damper on heading to Bend was Kate couldn't get out of class until late so we wouldn't be strolling into our cabin until late. It turned out she was able to leave class early so that helped a lot.

Race morning was a bit as expected for me. I felt ok, but I was really unmotivated to kick ass on the course, which was too bad. Its just how it is when your low on go-go juice, but I was still happy to be in Bend and at this venue. The Pacific Crest venue is pretty cool. There's about every distance race and types going on all weekend. There was a marathon, half-marathon, half-iron, and endurance duathlon (bike/run only) all going on at the same time. So during the run you see all sorts of different bibs on the course. It also has that small race feel to it, which I have really missed since I've only been to WTC sponsored events lately. Ironman brand races don't exactly have that laid back feeling.


I went ahead and got warmed up in the water and ready to go. The water was warmer this time around so no need for the thermal cap. It was actually about perfect, at around 63F. When I got done I came back out of th water to hang with Kate and all the spectators started to show up. There was a few people who looked like they were ready to have a good time. I'm pretty sure they were half in the bag. The picture kind of says it all, but from the time my wave went out and when I got done they changed into some band of Indians. It was pretty funny and those guys got a lot of stares. They ate it right up.


The swim went fairly well though I was feeling fatigued from the get-go. Yes, more whining about feeling tired. I expected the water to be clearer, but like everywhere else out West, there has been so much snow run-off from the mountains the lakes were a bit murky. The only weird thing that happened to me was on the way back in, say about halfway through the swim, I hit a "slick" of fish spawn. It was this huge load of fish eggs on the surface that I had to get through for about 20-30yards. It was pretty gross, but I survived. I have noticed a strange ability to stay underwater longer now though...hmmmm....

The bike course is pretty cool. There's only five turns to be made in the 58-miles (this was a non-standard distance race). Once we turned out of the park we had about 10-miles of riding until the next turn. Then it was nearly 40-miles of straight highway and the roads were fantastic. There were three major climbs to do, two of which were actual mountain passes, topping off at around 6300ft. On the mountain passes the temps rose pretty high, but there was still tons of snow on the ground. Only the roads didn't have snow and they just opened a couple weeks prior. It was a pretty cool sight to see. On the way up one of the climbs I saw a dude fling himself off his bike into a snow bank. I said to him, "Dude, you OK?" He laid in the snow, "Cramp, leg cramp." So no big whoop, he was going to survive. The climbs themselves weren't too bad since I've had my fair share of long grinds this year. Nothing crazy-steep, but if you weren't used to zoning out for 6 to 7-miles at a time going up it might become tough. I ended up having a fair bike, but nothing outstanding. I really tried to be conservative in hopes that this lack of energy would turn into something positive, but it never did. Such as life. Lets go for a nice hot run.


I was warned by club members that the 13.1-mile run was a hot one. And they were right, temps got to 100F (if not more) on the run, but it was nothing like running at Moo in 2005. With only 20% humidity it was tolerable and you'd catch a good breeze from time to time to help. I just couldn't muster up a run. So I played the walk-run-walk walk game, had a few bouts of uselessness then finally see Kate around the 10mile marker. I needed to vent to her about my lack of desire, but she pepped me and I was able to muster up enough to run most of the last 5K (slowly) to the finish line. Man, whatapisser! And not a pisser that I finished a bit slower than I'm used too, but more that I was in such negative spirits doing it. Stuff's supposed to be fun and this time around not so much. However, my lovely bride always refreshes my noggin about how I need to put things in perspective and enjoy the moment. Afterall, we're in flipp'n Bend, for Pete's sake.
After a little recovery we headed to the beer tent to collect my prize liquid. Mmmmmm......Beeeeeer!!!! Then it was off to the grocery store to get some salmon steaks and head back to the cabin. There's nothing like cooking up your own meals in a cabin on a lake. Heck, the next morning we treated ourselves to some home cooked eggs/bacon/toast and coffee. Life is grand!

Recovery from the Bend race went quickly since I didn't hammer out the run. So I was right back on the horse w/ a refreshed attitude on getting prepped for Ironman. Other than needing my tri-bike back things are looking good. The next race is in August, which is a local Olympic distance race. That'll be my last Vo2 max effort before I start calming it down for the big dance. Man, this mother is right around the corner and I'm getting hungry.

Well, that's about everything. Train smart and be safe.

Drew.

May Stuff

Well I got through May training fairly well. It was one of those months where the bike volume started to crank. Managed to get in 95+ mile rides every Saturday except for this last one since I had the Boise 70.3 to race. I'll get into that fun soon. Swimming is coming along at this point. I continue to improve by drilling tons, but I'm also putting in at least one day of hard sets for strength. I'm still very motivated to get to the pool as well as get to the several choice ponds for open water swimming. The ponds are clean/clear so it's not much of a gross experience. My running continues to improve on the hills despite the lack of volume. I get my long runs done up in the foothills so that's not a problem and I get plenty of climbing in, but I think it's time to get at least one more day on my feet. June/July will be big months for me.

Two weeks ago I took on the Boise Aeros annual bike ride from Boise to Stanley (check out the terrain view). This is a 130-mile trek, covering a slew of elevation gain (about 11,000ft of climbing) and three major mountain passes. Once you leave Boise and head up highway 21 the scenery goes green and mountainous. It's truly a beautiful ride. Around miles 80 to 90 I had a small rough patch, but I pretty much tuned it out and just listened to the surroundings. Nearly the entire ride you go along the south fork of the Payette river. The river is currently running very high due to all the snow runoff from the mountains. If you tune everything else out and just listen to the river the pain you talked yourself into miles back pretty much disappears.

Experiencing the mountain passes on the bike was a trip. The first pass (Moore's Summit) was a 10-mile doozy, with some big switchbacks and steep grades. I had my tri-bike for this ride so that makes it interesting since you don't spend much time in the aerobars when climbing these honkers. The second pass (Beaver Creek), which is only about 5-miles later is another dandy, but the easiest of the three. Then at mile 90 the climb up over Banner Creek Summit is a 15-mile straight shot up and over. Not only are you zonked from the 90-miles of continuous UP, you're now faced with this big climb that continues to give you this false hope that you've reached the top. Every time you think you're over...WHAM...it just keeps working it's way back up. I had my Garmin with me so I knew 7200ft was the magic elevation marker. After 90mins of climbing though you just sort of want it to end. I had fun climbing the other summits, but I was pretty much ready for this one to be done. Half way up my supplies went dry and was basically recycling spit. That's when Super Wife arrives (insert superhero theme music here). Kater was driving up separately so she could get some studying done. When she asked me if I needed anything I was like "OH BABY!". She packed the cooler full of everything and I went for the coke. I slammed one can, threw two more in my aerobottle, proceeded to drink over half while gabbing with her so threw another in. So now I'm buzzed up and ready to go. Once I reached the summit I think I threw two more cokes down me. Cheeze ballz dude!!! I'm surprised I didn't jitter-vibrate myself off the road. Once we got over that last summit it's about 25-miles to get down into Stanley. This was 25-miles of rollers, elevation LOSS, and wind to our backs. And with all the cokes in me I think I averaged 25+ getting there. Also, once you're over that last mountain pass you see the Sawtooth Mountain range. "Damn", is all I can say. It's a spectacular view and after being in the saddle for nearly 7hrs it's a very welcome site. It was just a kickass experience, to say the least.

I took'r a little easier this week to get prepped for the Boise 70.3 half-Ironman. This was our 1st annual event here and it turned out to be an event I'd recommend to anyone. Logistically, it's a bit of a challenge since it's a point-2-point race. So it's one of those deals where you have to get your bike out to the Lucky Peak reservoir before-hand then get your running gear over to T2. I think there's some things they can do to make it a little easier for everyone, which always improves over time. I also didn't witness any first-hand whiners, which was a surprise. I was actually impressed by the lack of whining from the athletes as it always seems to be a case of "please me please me". Dude, just harden the f#@k up and race! Anyway, quick rant.

The race itself for me was pretty good. This was the first half IM where I got to sleep in my own bed the night before, which is a new/strange experience. And to have it as an Official Ironman sponsored race in my backyard that made it even stranger. Ironman also did a fantastic job of bringing in some top-notch pro athletes. Chris Leito, Desiree Ficker, and Kate Major to name a few. Once again, weird having these athletic icons in our backyard.

So though the race is local it didn't change the wakeup call. At 3:45am I'm up in the shower to induce "wake up" then down for my pre-race meal. Kate and I were then off to our friend's place to pick them up (more support crew) then off to downtown. We then get shuttled out to Lucky Peak to start the race. By 7:30am my wave finally goes out and we hit the friggid choppy waters. I'm guessing it was around 55F. It's cold, but tolerable, especially with the thermal hoody on. Some guys had little wetsuit booties on and i think I'd opt for that next time at this race. When I got out of the water it was a bit of a challenge running with stiff ankles on a stoney path. The swim itself went pretty well. Times were slow due to the conditions, but I ended up 9th in my AG for the swim. That's a rather large step up from the usual 3rd of way down the list.

T1 was a slow slow slow. The point-2-point thing changes plans so you have to pack all your crap in a bag before you head out so they can take it downtown for later. Not only that, all of the crap you plan to wear on the bike has to be in that bag before the race. So it's unload the bag, reload the bag. It's an even playing field for everyone so that's cool, but I get impatient in the transition area. Blame the A.D.D.!

The Giant is starting to mold to my frame. I still have some tweaking to do so I can hold pace for 112-miles, but it's coming around. The bike today felt pretty good and the couple bigger climbs we had I think I handled with "running 13.1" in mind. Very conservative up them things. The rest of the ride went well other than dropping the chain once and loosing my gel (off to plan B). I still have some impatience I need to take care of, which is all things to expect in early June. The ride itself was good enough for 5th in my AG so I was happy with that.

T2 was once again slow slow slow. I had to pack my bag again, but I also had to rip it open since I tied it the night before so my shoes wouldn't get wet. After ripping the bag open then trying to throw my aero helmet in there, the force of me squeezing the helmet in broke the side ear piece. Arg!!!! We'll see if crazy-glue can fix it. Otherwise, you might be seeing a new lid on me soon. Whattapisser!

My legs felt great going into the run. I had to stop the first mile to pee, but then got into a groove of 7:00-7:10 splits. I eventually slowed down a bit which shows to me that nutrition is still a factor on the bike and perhaps requires little more conservation. But I also think adding some more high quality volume to the run will help as well. I know I have it me, just requires some work. During the run I was able to see Kate and the gang several times. The run is pretty much a pancake other than the "here and theres" and today there was overcast with periodic drizzle. If you can run fast, today was the day to prove it. The crowd support for the run is worth it alone to do this race. It has an Ironman Wisc feel to it, but a much more scaled down version of it. And it's only going to get better. When it was all said and done I had the 9th fastest run in my AG and it was good enough for an 8th place AG finish. Not bad. I'm happy with that and it gives me some things to work on.

Well, your basic race report stuff.

Train smart, keep your nose clean, don't f@$k up! :)

Drew.

Bike Love

I love bikes, I love my bikes, however, my bikes can also be those bratty little kids you want to put into a headlock, give them a couple big noogies, and follow it up with a wet-willy! Since I got the new TT bike I rebuilt my Van Dessel as a road bike and it's been mainly my power bike on the CompuTrainer. The seatpost clamp has always been dumb on that bike. Close tri-geek buddies who have traveled with me to races can attest that it's given me some grief. It's dumb. VD designed a frame with a slightly larger (2mm) than standard seatpost. So if you go with a standard post then you have to crank down on it, which puts a lot of strain on the frame. At some point in 2005 the frame started to crack in that area, but has been holding until now.

Last Tuesday I'm 20-mins into my ride and "CRACK!". What a nice lovely sound the bike just made followed with the dropping of my saddle. The internal metal of the clamp within the frame completely shattered. So in the last month the bike has seen a cracked deraullur hanger and now this. Nothing another trip to Lowe's can solve. Since I don't care what the frame looks like there's now a nice fatty bolt, nut, and washer going through the frame to snug up the seatpost. Mission complete, but I don't know how much more time the ol' VD has left. She's just gotta hang on until the end of the 2009 season. After that my Sugaaa Momma (aka wife with job...he he) arrives and perhaps I could swing a new road setup. Until then, HOLD ON YOU LITTLE BEE-OTCH!!!

OK, on to the new Giant TT bike. Last year I used some cash I made from my little software app to purchase some new kickass Easton DeltaForce TT drops. They're all carbon, they're sexy, and they're 100+ grams lighter than the VisionTech drops I had prior. Well, I installed them on the VD back in it's days and they kept slipping at the stem. They slipped enough where the bars got slightly chewed up. I tried everything at the time then eventually gave up. Well, those $200 bars just sat in my little bike shop and the guilt factor was building. I finally decided to give it another try. I did some research and found that using a little piece of aluminum oxide sandpaper would keep them from slipping. So I tried that and they still slipped. Then I changed out the bolts in my Syntace F99 stem and reversed the side the sand is on and Viola! That took care of it. I got over a 100-miles on them in the last couple of days and no slip. I think the guilt is starting to wear off. We'll see.

So I think that's everything other than blowing a tire on my ride yesterday. No big deal of course since that happens to everyone, but it was another thing to think about. I had to order some new tires that can handle some of the debris around here, which is just another slight adjustment in my new bike surroundings.

Ok, final thing. I'm two weeks out from perhaps the toughest and longest ride I've ever done. I'm biking with some of the Boise Aeros from Boise up to Stanley. This is a 130-mile trip with well over 20,000ft of climbing with the elevation topping out around 7300ft. I'm pretty pumped to take it on and also a little nerveous. One cool thing is Kate is helping out that weekend and will drive with us in case we need anything. So she'll throw the doogies in with her and we'll spend the night up in Stanley when it's done. We then have a nice long trail run scheduled the next day. Should be a great time and I'll tell ya all about it when it's done. It should be beautiful (follow link) so we'll take plenty of pics.

Later gators,
Drew.